Listening to his heart
by Hiccstrider1999
Summary: Astrid is fed up of Hiccup not coming to terms with his feelings for her and to make matters worse Astrid's parents are forcing her into a marriage with Snotlout. Two years before httyd2.
1. Too old

The sun rose in Berk and slowly a young Viking and his dragon began to wake. Hiccup sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes, spotting Toothless who was curled up on his stone bed, refusing to get up. "Morning bud" Hiccup yawned, as he picked up his prosthetic and began to attach it to his leg. The drowsy dragon purred and stretched out his arms and legs before lying back down again. "Come on bud, we need to help my dad with preparations for Thawfest. Remember?" Toothless rolled his eyes and huffed in defeat, before plodding out of the room and hitting Hiccup with his tail as he did. "Hey!" Hiccup complained, raising his eyebrows and trying to fix a scowl. Toothless laughed and sauntered downstairs. Hiccup sighed and cracked a smile, before tying the last band around his leg, standing up to check it was on right and then chasing after his dragon. He ran outside and almost fell over when he trod on something slippery. It had snowed during the night. It often snowed in Berk and Hiccup was used to the cold but even now, three years after the fight with the Red Death, his leg hadn't adapted to the cold and his prosthetic was still difficult to balance with on ice.

Hiccup was so lost in his own thought that he didn't notice Astrid running up to him. "Hey! Hiccup!" she called. Hiccup looked up and a smile spread across his face. "Hey Astrid!" he began but suddenly his foot slipped again and his prosthetic hit the floor, cracking down the middle and causing the bolt in the middle to pop out. The leg immediately buckled and folded in half and Hiccup, with nothing to support him, stumbled forwards and grabbed on to the nearest thing, which just so happened to be Astrid.

Before he could stop himself, Hiccup landed with a thud on top of Astrid, their legs sprawled and interlocked together and Hiccups' hands either side of her hips. Somehow her arms had wrapped around his back and she savoured the way his muscles flinched beneath her fingers. His muscles were small but firm and she liked them that way. They were dragon rider muscles. She took the opportunity to pull him closer and his hands entwined in her hair. For what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only a few seconds, they stared into each other's eyes, each other's souls. Hiccup watched the sunlight glisten in her sapphire blue eyes and Astrid became lost in the forest of his emerald green eyes. Then unexpectedly, they both moved towards each other and in a swift motion, locked their lips together in a passionate kiss.

This was unlike their other kisses, this was different. Hiccup had always been too shy to make the first move, but here he felt exhilarated. His anxiety was gone; all he could feel was warmth and love. He savoured the curve of her shoulders, the freckles on her arms and the way the light was reflected in the snow surrounding her, making the ground glisten and highlight her flawless beauty like a halo over her head. To him she was a goddess now. Astrid had never felt so happy. She couldn't believe this new Hiccup; she was relieved and ecstatic at the same time. It felt like nothing could ruin the moment.

That was until Stoick the Vast, who had crept up silently behind the entranced teenagers, loudly cleared his throat to shake the two out of their trance. Hiccup quickly tried to stand up forgetting about his leg and immediately fell onto Astrid. Luckily she was able to prop him up on her shoulder and as they both glanced round they shockingly realised they had an audience. Half the village had stopped what they were doing and were now gawking at the teens, who were now blushing madly. "Astrid, I'm sorry, this, this was wrong. I can't – I'm sorry." Hiccup was struggling to find the words but his hands were shaking and he couldn't look Astrid in the eye. Astrid began "Hiccup what are you talking about, it's okay" "No it's not" he interrupted. "I'm not- like this- normally. Everyone saw us. I just-uh- I ..." There was nothing Hiccup could do. He had returned to his old Hiccup-y self, self-conscious and scared and Astrid swallowed a lump in her throat and instead became angry at him. "How can you talk about us like this? Why are you ashamed of us?" she fumed.

But before Hiccup could reply, Stoick trudged over to his son and said through gritted teeth "Inside. NOW." Hiccup nodded begrudgingly and limped towards his father, who grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back to the house. Astrid began to speak, but stopped when she spotted her parents standing in the crowd, giving her a death glare. She smoothed down her skirt and puffed out her chest, in an attempt to look proud and unashamed. She hastily walked towards her parents, but they also took her by the arms and walked her back to their house. Hiccup barely had time to call out "I'll see you soon Astr-", before his door was slammed shut on him and Astrid's closed in unison.

The rest of the villagers shook their heads and got back to work, confused and shocked by what they had just seen. The problem was that this kiss _had_ been very different to the rest. Hiccup and Astrid weren't children anymore. They were both seventeen, old enough to marry and an encounter like this was seen as inappropriate for an unmarried couple. They couldn't say anything of course because Hiccup was the son of the Chief, but both Hiccup and Astrid's parents had a lot to say.


	2. A parent's decision

Chapter two

Hiccup yelped in pain as his dad pulled him by his neck and flung him into a chair. Stoick stood with his arms crossed and his brow furrowed staring down at his son. Hiccup looked up at him with wide eyes and a raised eyebrow. "What?" "You know exactly what!" Stoick boomed. "You and Astrid!" "Oh, right... that..."Hiccup turned bright red and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "What were you thinking! You can't behave like that when you're not married!" Hiccup frowned and became angry at this. "Well how am I supposed to act? It's like I can't do anything right!" "Hiccup you have liked Astrid for years! And you are going to be chief soon so" "So what!?" Hiccup interrupted, now standing with his fists clenched.

"I don't want to be chief. Don't you understand?" "It's time Hiccup." "Are you not listening to me?" "This is serious, son!" Hiccup turned away and clenched his teeth together. "I can't do this." he mumbled. Stoick became frustrated and asked Hiccup to repeat. "I SAID I CAN'T DO THIS!" Stoick's jaw dropped and he stepped back. He had never seen his son act like this. Hiccup breathed in and out shakily, before turning to his father to speak. But no words came out. He uttered "I'm sorry, dad..." before he pushed past Toothless and Stoick and sprinted out the door. Toothless growled at Stoick and followed his master, purring and calling him to stop. Hiccup didn't look back. He couldn't. Before he knew it he had run past all the houses and was heading straight to the edge of the cliff. But he kept running. Toothless shot a plasma blast at Hiccup which narrowly missed his feet. Stoick was right behind Toothless, yelling at Hiccup. The cliff edge was a metre away when suddenly Hiccup closed his eyes, spread out his arms and jumped.

Meanwhile at the Hofferson's house Astrid was being questioned by her parents. They paced around her in circles and lectured her on her "inappropriate" behaviour. Then her mother stopped when she realised Astrid wasn't paying attention. "Astrid!" "What?" She replied, spinning her axe in her hand before slamming it into the floor. "Astrid we are sick and tired of you flinging yourself at that boy" "I'm not flinging myself at anyone! And that boy is the smartest, bravest and greatest Viking I have ever known" Astrid interrupted. "I don't want you hanging around with him anymore. You're giving yourself a bad reputation." Now Astrid had stood up and her eyes began to fill with tears. She was used to being a strong, ruthless Viking, but for the first time in her life she stopped acting like a warrior. She couldn't put on a brave face this time.

"But I love him..." She stumbled over the words in her mouth, realising she had hardly said them before, not truthfully like this. Her mother sighed and walked over to the table behind her. "Well, I love you Astrid and you are too old to be playing games. I need to do what is best for you. Which is why..." She didn't finish and instead picked up a scroll of parchment and handed it to Astrid. "What is this?" Astrid questioned as she unrolled it. "A contract." Her father said with a stern voice. "A contract? For what?" Her parents looked at each other and then both said "For marriage." Astrid's eyes widened in horror. "What!" she stuttered dropping the scroll on the floor. "Between you and Snotlout." Her mother finished. "WHAT!" Astrid shouted, ripping her axe from the floorboards and raising it over her head. "NO! I won't do it!" "This doesn't concern you anymore Astrid." Her father said angrily. "We have had to take matters into our own hands." "No you can't make me!" She roared and swung the axe down. Her father grabbed her wrist and stared into her eyes. "Go to your room." He ordered. "Dad no, please." She began. "Upstairs. NOW!" he repeated. Astrid crumpled up her face and yelled "I HATE YOU!" before she ran upstairs, taking chunks out of the wall with her axe as she did. Stormfly was in her room waiting for her. "Come on girl, let's go." The Nadder chirped as Astrid mounted her and the two of them flew out of Astrid's window and disappeared into the clouds.


	3. Test Drive

Astrid and Stormfly swooped through the clouds and spiralled through the sky. Flying always made Astrid feel so alive, it reminded her of the first time she had flown with Hiccup, when he had taken her for a ride on the sunset. She had been so afraid of dragons before, but in that moment she had felt so safe with her arms wrapped around him. Astrid smiled and closed her eyes at these happy memories, but as Stormfly looped over the water she saw the reflection of a small, brownish dragon hovering over them. In the background she could hear some of the villagers yelling and screaming. Astrid had no idea what was going on and figured a rogue dragon must have reached Berk. She leaned in and whispered to her dragon "Easy girl. No sudden moves." Stormfly understood perfectly and glided silently underneath the dragon. Astrid slowly rose to her feet and steadied herself to jump when she got a horrible surprise.

"HICCUP? What are you doing?" she gasped as her face turned white. Astrid had no idea how he was staying in the air like that. He was wearing his normal riders vest but recently he also had started wearing large leather arm warmers rather than his normal bands wrapped over his arms. These were covered with hooks and tassels and as Astrid looked further down his body she noticed he had leather leg warmers of a similar design, but with a zip at the side on each one. Right now the zips were undone and masses of leather flaps rose up of the zips, supported by impossibly thin metal wires running along the seam of each, joining the flaps together just like a wing. There were more hooks on the end of each wire and these were all linked to the hooks on Hiccup's arm warmers. Hiccup himself had his arms stretched out and he was lying horizontal in the sky to the water, his legs out straight behind him and his head facing the horizon, eyebrows down. His eyes were streaming with tears and Astrid couldn't tell if he was upset or it was because of the wind. Maybe it was both.

When Hiccup heard his name he immediately swung his head round and his body twisted with him. Bad idea. A sudden gust of wind caught under his right wing and caused air resistance on his side which sent him hurtling head first into a sea stack. He smacked against his head and neck and blinked rapidly in a gaze. He stuttered "A-Astrid?" before realising the wing had now ripped where a metal rod has snapped and poked out through the leather. Hiccup tried desperately to steady himself but the wing could not operate and catch the wind, instead drooping and causing Hiccup to plummet out of the sky. Astrid snapped out of her daydream and commanded to the Nadder "Stormfly, fetch!" The pair rocketed towards Hiccup, who was now flailing his arms in a hopeless attempt to stop himself from falling. Astrid couldn't help but smirk lovingly at this sight, for Hiccup looked just like his clumsy, fourteen year old self again, with gangly legs and freckles. But she focused, knowing she had to catch him.

Astrid balanced cautiously on her feet with arms stretched out in front and a glare fixed at the falling boy. _You can do this, you can do this_, she thought to herself. _For him._ Then without thinking the blonde leapt into the air and latched onto Hiccup's legs, landing back on Stormfly with a thud. The two Vikings were both panting and lying on their side on Stormfly's back. Slowly, Hiccup opened his eyes and sat up, staring bewildered with his mouth open at the girl in front of him. Her plait had been torn out as she caught Hiccup and her hair flowed loosely over her shoulders like a perfect silhouette. Her shirt had risen up at the back, revealing soft, ivory skin and as she breathed in and out rapidly her muscles quivered and accentuated her curves. Hiccup forgot himself and whispered "So beautiful" not acknowledging that he had said this out loud. Astrid turned to him and he saw her blushing for the first time. She stared at him with wide eyes and glowing cheeks until she remembered what had just happened and leaned over with a scowl, punching Hiccup in the arm. "OW! Astrid? What the heck?" Hiccup complained rubbing his throbbing arm. "That's for scaring me and almost killing yourself." She retorted. "I wasn't killing myself I was testing my flight suit. I need to make something that can let me change direction though, maybe a fin on the back..." Astrid smiled as Hiccup rambled on about his new invention. She loved when he was talking about some science-y thing or another, his arms would make all sorts of funny gestures and his jaw and cheek muscles would tense as he talked strongly and confidently. Astrid quickly shut him up however and leaned in gently, planting a single kiss on his lips, with Hiccup's hands coming to rest on her waist. Astrid pulled away and whispered "That's for everything else." Hiccup smiled and his eyes lit up like shimmering emeralds. The two were lost in a haze until they heard Stoick's booming voice from the edge of the cliff. "Come on, I think we should get out of here." Astrid smiled. "I couldn't possibly agree with you more." Hiccup replied.


End file.
